Yap Cheng Hai, one of the world's most renowned feng shui grand masters and considered by many to be "the real McCoy" sifu in classical feng shui, spoke to the local media yesterday about his predictions for 2009 and the coming years ahead.

The 82-year-old sifu, who heads the Yap Cheng Hai Academy, predicts bad times and advised people to persevere and work hard in face of the challenging years ahead.

Grandmaster Yap also warned that as cash flow will slow down from July onwards, people should be careful with their money.

He says the worse is yet to come and hard times would last for 11 years - the years 2009 until 2012 will be bad and the economy would only recover in 2013.

The grandmaster however added that the period from 2009 until 2024 is the golden age for young men. This is the time when new rich men will arise following the ending of the era of successful young women.

The year of the Ox, Yap says, would be exceptionally bad for those born under the sign of the Ox and the Sheep.

This year, the sifu advised people to start work on the 3rd and 5th days of the Chinese New Year, going to office before 9am but not after 9.30am.

Despite feng shui having millions of followers worldwide, I know some of you are still skeptical about this Chinese geomancy being an art or a science, either in predicting the future or enhancing one's fortune.